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TOTAL  ABSTINENCE 

FOR  THE 


n 


SAKE  OF  OURSELVES  AND  OTHERS. 


BY 

Rev.  Canon  FARRAR,  D.D.,  F.R.S. 


oECTURE  DELIVERED  IN  THE  HALL  OF  THE  KING’S  COLLEGE, 
CAMBRIDGE,  NOVEMBER  19th,  1877. 


NEW  YORK: 

National  Temperance  Society  and  Publication  HousGj 

58  Reade  Street. 

1879. 


TOTAL  ABSTINENCE 

FOR  THE  SAKE  OF  OURSELVES  AND  OTHERS. 

By  the  Rev.  Canon  Farrar,  D.D.,  F.R.S. 


The  Rev.  Canon  Farrar  said: — My  Lords, 
Ladies,  and  Gentlemen  : — It  ought  to  be,  and  it  is, 
with  some  trepidation  that  I rise  to  address  so 
highly  distinguished  an  audience  on  a greatly  dis- 
paraged cause.  The  secular  press  tells  us  that  the 
advocates  of  total  abstinence  are  impracticable  fa- 
natics and  wrong-headed  Pharisees;  the  religious 
press  tells  us  that  abstinence  is  a much  poorer  stage 
of  virtue  than  moderation,  and  that,  by  declining 
wine  and  beer,  we  fall  far  below  the  attainment  of 
those  moral  athletes  who,  to  their  hearts'  content 
indulge  themselves  in  both ; even  clergymen  in 
their  sermons  and  at  the  Church  Congresses  have 
argued  that  we  are  despising  a good  creature  of 
God,  setting  ourselves  against  a precept  of  St.  Paul 
and  cherishing  a heresy  which  is  dangerously  akin 
to  that  of  the  ancient  Manichees.  Well,  gentlemen, 
if  a cause  had  no  opponents,  I for  one  should  think 
it  a grievous  waste  of  tinie  to  be  among  its  advo- 
cates; and  the  only  thing  which  reconciles  me  to 
the  uncongenial  task  of  speaking  on  the  subject  is 
the  knowledge  that  it  is  unpopular  and  decried. 

P 2 0 S 


40 


Total  Abstzne?ice 


And  as  for  these  arguments  we  have  had  them  ad. 
dressed  to  us  again  and  again;  and  you  must  par- 
don me  if  the  utter  intellectual  disdain  with  which 
I regard  them,  prevents  me  from  doing  more  than 
allude  to  them  to-day.  When  the  world  in  general 
had  abandoned  the  defense  of  protection,  the  forty 
members  of  Parliament  who  still  staunchly  con- 
tinued to  vote  for  it  were  popularly  known  as  the 
forty  cannon-balls  ; not  many  years  earlier  these 
forty  cannon-balls  would  have  been  four  hundred 
cannon-balls,  and  precisely  the  same  arguments 
were  reiterated  by  the  forty  as  had  once  con- 
vinced the  four  hundred.  And  it  is  my  own 
firm  conviction  that  these  arguments  of  the  anti- 
abstinence majority  will  soon  become  those  of  the 
minority.  They  remind  me  of  nothing  so  much  as 
the  victims  of  Mr.  Punch,  in  the  now  rare  street 
show  which  used  to  delight  our  childish  days.  It 
is  perfectly  useless  for  that  hero  to  knock  them  on 
the  head  and  bang  them  on  the  floor.  They  show 
a wooden  vitality  which  is  perfectly  inexhaustible. 
No  matter  how  violently  they  have  been  dashed 
down,  and  finished  off  by  a final  rap,  they  are  sure 
to  start  up  a moment  afterward,  wagging  their 
futile  heads  and  shaking  their  minatory  arms ; and 
even,  long  after  they  have  been  finally  disposed  of, 
their  ghosts  reappear  with  an  exasperating  perti- 
nacity. Now  as  to  these  objections,  if  any  one 
likes  to  call  me  Manichean  because  I have  become 
an  abstainer,  I can  only  assure  him  with  a smile 
that  I should  like  him,  to  the  same  extent,  to  adopt 
the  same  beneficent  heresy.  If,  in  spite  of  argu 
rnents  which  daily  gain  in  overwhelming  cogency, 


For  the  Sake  of  Ourselves  and  Others.  41 

he  tells  me  that  alcohol  in  moderation  is  harmless, 
it  is  still  no  more  a special  duty  of  mine  to  drink  it 
than  it  is  a special  duty  of  mine  to  feed,  for  instance, 
on  Revalenta  Arabica.  If  I prove  to  him  that  to 
millions  of  human  beings  it  is  not  only  deleterious, 
but  deadly,  I say  that  to  them,  and  to  those  who 
wish  to  help  and  save  them,  it  is  no  more  a good 
creature  of  God  than  laudanum  or  strychnine. 
And  as  to  the  so-called  Scriptural  arguments  in 
favor  of  drunkenness — I beg  pardon,  I mean  in 
favor  of  moderate  drinking  ; which  is,  however,  ulti- 
mately the  /o7is  ct  origo  of  drunkenness — I shall  say 
this  only,  that  wine  means  primarily  the  juice,  and 
often  as  I believe  the  unfermented  juice  of  the 
grape ; and  that  the  drugged  beers,  and  stupefying 
porters,  and  fortified  ports,  and  plaistered  sherries, 
and  abominable  draughts  of  liquid  fire  which  are 
called  spirits  in  England,  are  no  more  the  pure 
fruit  of  the  vine  than  the  mariner’s  compass  is  in- 
tended when  we  are  told  that  St.  Paul  fetched  a 
compass  and  came  to  Rhegium.  Into  that  Script- 
ural matter  I have  no  time  at  present  to  enter,  and 
indeed  to  do  so  would  be  certainly  superfluous  to 
an  audience  intelligent  enough  and  educated 
enough  to  distinguish  between  the  dead  letter  and 
the  living  spirit.  Texts  have  been  quoted  for  cen- 
turies in  the  cause  of  ignorance  and  sin.  They 
have  been  quoted  to  countenance  every  absurdity, 
and  check  every  science,  and  denounce  every  moral 
reformation.  They  were  quoted  against  Columbus, 
against  Copernicus,  against  Galileo,  against^ the 
geologists.  They  were  quoted  against  St.  Peter, 
against  St.  Paul,  against  Christ  Himself.  They 


42 


Total  Abstinence 


were  quoted  against  W3^c'iffe,  against  Luther, 
against  Wilberforce  They  have  been  quoted — 
quite  as  often  as  the}"  now  are  against  the  cause  of 
temperance — in  defense  of  polygamy,  in  defense  of 
oppression,  in  defense  of  persecution,  in  defense 
of  intolerance.  But  those  who  oppose  us  on  false 
deductions  from  Scripture  do  not  stand  alone  in 
resuscitating  th®se  slain  objections.  There  is  your 
senator,  intrenched  in  his  impregnable  aphorism 
that  you  can  not  make  people  sober  by  Act  of  Par- 
liament;’' who  is  best  met,  partly,  by  the  direct 
denial  that  to  a ver}^  great  extent  you  can  make 
people  sober  by  Act  of  Parliament ; and,  partly,  by 
the  entreaty  that  senates,  if  they  can  not  make 
people  sober,  should  at  least  not  continue  the  very 
effectual  means  which  prove  that  you  do  by  Acts 
of  Parliament  make  them  drunken.  There  is  your 
Man  of  the  World  who  angril}"  asks  you  What  all 
the  noise  is  about,  and  why  you  can  not  leave  him 
alone?”  and  who  is  indeed  best  left  alone,  since  our 
arguments  are  only  intelligible  to  the  unselfish  and 
the  earnest.  There  is  your  defender  of  the  British 
Constitution,  who  asks  “ How  you  can  interfere 
with  the  liberty  of  the  subject?”  to  whgm  I answer, 
with  J.  S.  Mill,  that  the  liberty  of  one  man  ends 
where — however  profitable  to  himself — it  becomes 
fatal  and  ruinous  to  another;  and  with  Archbishop 
Whately,  that  I will  gladly  curtail  my  liberty,  if 
thereby  I can  restrain  another’s  license.  And  then 
lastly,  there  is  a very  important  person  indeed, 
your  Political  Economist.  You  tell  him  that  we 
are  squandering  150,000,000  a vear  directly  (and 
how  awful  a sum  indirectly,  is  known  to  God 


For  the  Sake  of  Ourselves  and  Others.  43 

alone),  in  that  which  he  may  regard  as  a harmless 
luxury,  but  which  we  see  to  be  a frightful  curse 
to  millions,  and  which  we  believe  to  be  in  a greater 
or  less  degree  injurious  to  all — and  what  does  he 
do?  First  he  nibbles  at  the  figures;  talks  about 
exaggeration;  and  without  saying  one  word  about 
the  indirect  cost  to  the  nation  of  alcohol,  says  that 
it^  direct  cost  is,  after  all,  ‘^only’’  ;£*  13 1,000, 000; 
and  that  of  this  the  working  classes  spend  “only"' 
;^36,ooo,ooo,  and  that  this  is  only '' equivalent  to 
what  they  spend  in  rent;  and  that  ^^87,000, 000  of 
the  whole  sum  spent  are  not  lost  because  they  go 
in  duty  to  the  Exchequer  and  in  profits  to  the 
liquor  trade.  Well,  gentlemen,  I am  not  a Profes- 
sor, and  perhaps  it  may  only  be  my  ignorance,  but 
I confess  that  this  is  a political  economy  w^hich 
fairly  astounds  me.  It  reminds  me  of  nothing  so 
much  as  the  answer  given,  it  is  said,  but  let  us  hope 
not^  by  an  Oxford  undergraduate,  to  the  question, 
“ What  are  the  chief  sources  of  revenue  to  the  Shet- 
land Isles?”  and  who  answered  that  ‘‘the  inhabit- 
ants earned  an  honest,  but  somewhat  precarious, 
subsistence  by  washing  one  another's  clothes ! ” 
But  seriously,  gentlemen,  supposing  that  this 
1 3 1 ,000,000 — for  in  this  amazing  bill  we  will  not 
quarrel  about  a million  or  two,  more  or  less — were 
spent  not  in  alcohol,  but  in  fireworks?  Would  it  be 
an  argument  to  any  one  who  complained  that  this 
was  a fearful  waste,  to  say  that  the  working  classes 
‘‘only”  spent  ^^36, 000, 000  of  it;  that  fireworks 
amused  them;  and  that  8 7,000,000  of  it  was  not 
lost  because  it  went  in  duty  to  the  revenue  and  in 
profits  to  the  pyrotechnists?  It  is  surely  an 


44 


Total  Abstinence 


amazing  conception  of  national  advantage  which 
makes  it  consist  in  the  mere  circulation  of  money 
spent  in  unproductive  labor;  and  any  one  who 
knows  anything  whatever  about  the  Temperance 
question,  knows  that  the  grounds  on  which  we 
brand  as  waste  this  vast  consumption  of  our  re- 
sources, are  grounds  for  which  we  at  least  offer  a 
daily  increasing  mass  of  proof ; namely,  that  alco- 
hol is  not  a food  ; that  it  is  not  a source  of  warmth ; 
that  it  is  not  a source  of  strength ; that  it  can  not 
even  conceivably  be  a necessity,  seeing  that  our 
thousands  of  prisoners  gain  in  health  and  strength, 
instead  of  losing,  by  its  total  withdrawal ; that  there 
are  whole  races  of  men  who  never  touch  it;  and 
that  the  Total  Abstainers  of  England,  who  now 
number  4,000,000,  are  among  the  healthiest  of  men  ; 
and  that,  while  it  is  thus  absolutely  needless,  the 
abuse  of  it  is  confessedly  and  demonstrably  the 
curse  and  shame  of  England  both  at  home  and 
abroad,  the  most  fertile  and  the  most  potent  of  all 
existing  causes  of  degradation  and  ruin.  Well, 
gentlemen,  if  these  things  be  so — and  whether  they 
are  so  you  can  not  judge  at  all  till  you  have  at  least 
faced  the  evidence — then  I say  deliberately  and 
distinctly  that  England  would  be  a richer  country, 
a better  country,  a happier  country,  a countr}^  in 
all  respects  more  blessed,  if  alcoholic  drink  were 
non-existent,  and  if  1 50,000,000  were  spent  annu- 
ally on  fireworks  iiistead  ; — for  this  among  other 
reasons,  because  the  puffing  away  that  magnificent 
revenue  in  smoke  and  flame  would  not  only  do  us 
less  direct  harm,  but  would  also  save  us  from  the 
vast  loss  caused  indirectly  to  the  nation  by  tlie 


For  the  Sake  of  Ourselves  and  Others,  45 

occupation,  for  hops,  of  69,000  acres  of  our  soil ; by 
the  destruction,  for  beer  and  spirits,  of  12,000,000 
of  bushels  of  grain  ; and  by  the  crushing  expense 
of  all  the  pauperism,  the  lunacy,  the  crime,  the 
accidents — the  burnt  houses,  the  wrecked  ships, 
the  exploded  collieries,  the  shattered  railway 
trains — which  can  be  traced  directly  to  drink  alone. 

Now,  gentlemen,  I will  tell  you  wh}^  I speak  of 
Total  Abstinence.  I am  bidden  to-day  to  point  out 
the  claims  of  the  Temperance  movement  on  the 
Public  Schools  and  Universities,  and  if  by  the  Tem- 
perance movement  be  merely  meant  the  discoun- 
tenancing of  drunkenness,  surely  to  speak  about  it 
would  be  needless.  I suppose,  that  no  one  here  will 
be  likely  to  act,  as  I once  saw  a gentleman  act,  who 
sat  at  a meeting  and  did  not  blush  to  applaud  the 
disgraceful  facts  and  alarming  statistics  of  intem- 
perance. To  such  an  one  we  could  only  say, — 

Well  spoken  advocate  of  sin  and  shame, 

Known  by  thy  bleating-,  Ignorance  thy  name.” 

But  I need  hardly  say  that  no  man  would  have  any 
shadow  of  a right  to  the  titles  of  a Christian  and  a 
gentleman — nay,  he  would  brand  himself  as  an  en- 
emy to  his  race — if  he  did  not  join,  heart  and  soul, 
in  the  wish  to  check  intemperance.  If  that  were 
all,  it  would  be  an  insult  to  your  understandings  to 
argue  with  you  that  the  Temperance  movement  has 
claims  upon  you.  Of  course  it  has  claims  upon 
you ; of  course  it  has  claims  upon  every  living  man 
in  whose  breast  beats  a human  heart.  But  I shall 
take  the  unpopular.  Quixotic  side,  and  ask  you  to 
consider  whether  tctal  abstinence  has  no  claims 


46 


Total  Abstinence 


upon  you.  I shall  not  say — I have  never  said — - 
that  it  is  your  duty — or  any  man’s  duty — to  take  so 
far  upon  you  the  vow  of  the  Nazarite;  but  I shall 
humbly  ask  for  your  unprejudiced  consideration, 
and  I shall  leave  to  yourselves  the  manly  decision, 
while  I beg  you,  for  a few  moments,  to  glance  at 
the  question  with  me — first,  in  its  personal,  and  then 
in  one  only  of  its  social  aspects. 

Let  me  begin  with  the  very  lowest  ground  of  all. 
I look  around  me,  and  I am  every  day  more  deep- 
ly impressed  with  the  increasing  severity  of  the 
struggle  for  life,  and  the  immense  difficulty  of  earn- 
ing  a livelihood  by  thousands  of  boys  and  youths 
of  the  upper  and  professional  classes ; and  I ask 
whether,  under  such  circumstances,  it  is  not  worth 
a young  man’s  while  to  make  his  conditions  of  life 
as  simple  as  possible,  and  to  save  himself,  by  a ver}'' 
trivial  self-denial,  from  a very  needless  and  burden- 
some expense?  I tell  my  poor  people  that  one 
single  pint  of  beer  a day  means  a year,  that 
three  pints  a day,  which  is  in  most  of  these  families 
a very  moderate  allowance,  means  iJ'qa  year  out  of 
their  wages,  and  that  would  in  20  years  with  inter- 
est become  no  less  than  which  would  buy 

them  a freehold  house  and  garden.  I surely  may 
say  to  many  of  you  who  hereafter  will  not  find  it 
so  easy  to  keep  the  wolf  from  the  door — taking 
now  this  very  lowest,  yet  not  unimportant  ground 
— that  even  four  glasses  of  sherry  a day  in  a house- 
hold (and  how  many  families  are  there  who,  if  they 
use  it  at  all,  confine  themselves  to  that?)  means 
some  ten  dozen  bottles  a year,  and  that  even  in  a 
small  and  struggling  clergyman’s  family  of  a few 


For  the  Sake  of  Ourselves  and  Others.  47 

people  some  twenty  pounds  can  very  ill  indeed  be 
spared.  The  day  may  come  when  you  will  not 
think  this  a very  trivial  sum  : but  trivial  or  not,  it 
is  undesirable  if  it  be  a waste,  and  it  is  foolish  if 
people  are  better  without  it.  Now  this  at  least  is 
certain,  which  is,  that  to  a young  man  and  a healthy 
man  alcohol  in  an}^  form  is  needless,  even  if  it  be 
not  injurious.  I find  that  even  those  medical  men 
who  write  against  abstinence  are  constantly  making 
admissions  which  tell  dead  against  them.  Dr. 
Burney  Yeo  wrote  strongly  against  abstinence,  yet 
he  says,  speaking  of  precisely  the  most  popular 
wine  of  the  day,  Dry  sherries  do  an  incalculable 
imount  of  harm.”  Dr.  Brunton  and  Dr.  Burdon 
Sanderson,  and  Sir  W.  Gull  are  none  of  them  total 
abstainers,  and  the  first  two  are  distinctly  unfavor- 
able to  total  abstinence,  yet  Dr,  Brunton  says  be- 
fore the  Lords’  Committee,  If  a man  eats  well 
and  sleeps  well,  he  does  not  want  it,  and  is  better 
without  it.”  Dr.  Burdon  Sanderson  says,  It  is 
not  at  all  required  in  health  f and  Sir  W.  Gull, 
among  much  more  which  coming  from  such  a man 
is  of  the  most  immense  general  and  scientific  im- 
portance, says  that  the  constant  use  of  alcohol,  ev^en 
in  moderation,  injures  the  nervous  tissue,  and  is 
deleterious  to  health ; that  a man  may  very  materi- 
ally injure  his  constitution  short  of  drunkenness; 
and  that  a great  deal  of  injury  is  done  to  health  by 
the  habitual  use  of  wines  in  their  various  kinds,  and 
alcohol  in  its  various  shapes,  even  in  so-called  mod- 
erate quantities,  by  people  of  both  sexes  who  are 
supposed  to  be  fairly  well,  and  who  are  not  in  the 
least  intemperate.”  I could  quote  to  you  on  the 


48 


Total  Abstmence 


same  side  the  distinct  evidence  of  Sir  H.  Thompson, 
of  Dr.  Norman  Kerr,  of  Dr.  B.  W.  Richardson,  oi 
more  than  2,000  physicians  in  1846,  and  of  an  ever- 
increasing  number  of  eminent  medical  men  ; but  I 
greatly  prefer,  and  I am  quite  content  to  rest  it  on 
the  spontaneous,  the  unbiased,  often  the  most  un- 
willing testimony  of  those  who  are  in  no  way 
pledged  to  total  abstinence,  and  are  even  in  some 
cases  distinctly  hostile  to  it. 

So  much  on  the  score  of  health ; and  what  about 
strength?  You  desire  to  be  athletes,  gentlemen  ; 
well,  I venture  to  say  to  you  that  you  will  be  all 
the  better  and  stronger  if  you  are  total  abstainers. 
When  the  workmen  in  our  foundries  are  doing 
their  heaviest  tasks,  they  drink  nothing  but  oat- 
meal-water. When  Captain  Webb  swam  the  Chan- 
nel, and  Weston  walked  his  thousand  miles,  and 
Adam  Ayles,  the  Arctic  explorer,  got  nearest  to 
the  Pole,  they  did  it  without  a drop  of  stimulants  ; 
and  I dare-say  that  you  have  already  found  out  for 
yourselves  that,  as  Dr.  Burdon  Sanderson  says, 
Alcohol  is  especially  injurious  in  continuous  mus- 
cular exertion.’' 

And  then  as  to  mental  work,  many  of  you  desire 
to  be  students  and  scholars.  Will  alcohol  help 
you  ? Sir  Henry  Thompson  says  that  “ of  all  peo- 
ple I know  Avho  can  not  stand  alcohol,  the  brain- 
workers can  do  so  least.”  Sir  W.  Gull  tells  us  that 
alcohol  '‘degenerates  the  tissue,  and  spoils  the  in- 
tellect.” Many  a man  has  ruined  a tine  intellect, 
as  Macaulay  tells  us  that  Lord  Byron  did,  by  ar- 
dent spirits  and  Rhenish  wine;  many  a man  has 
polluted  with  the  strange  fires  of  alcohol  the  vesta] 


For  the  Sake  of  Ourselves  and  Others.  49 

flame  on  the  altar  of  genius;  but  in  spite  of  all 
devihs  proverbs  to  the  contrary,  no  man  has  ever 
yet  improved  it;  and  the 

Vino  forma  perit,  vino  consumitur  aetas,” 

IS  as  true  now  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  Propertius 
nearly  2,000  years  ago.  Gentlemen,  I could  go  on 
heaping  proof  on  proof  that  even  if  alcohol  be  not 
positively  harmful — even  if  it  do  not  tend  to  weak- 
en and  degrade  the  physical  organization — it  is,  at 
the  very  best,  a needless  and  a questionable  luxury  ; 
and  therefore  one  which  a 3^oung  man  might,  I 
think,  very  reasonably  despise.  But  I have  some- 
thing more  serious  to  say.  In  speaking  of  the 
purely  personal  aspect  of  the  question,  I have  only 
glanced  at  its  physical,  and  have  not  so  much  as 
touched  on  its  moral  and  spiritual  aspects.  Now, 
as  regards  these,  my  own  belief  is  that  alcohol  does 
tend  (if  taken  very  moderately  it  may  be  only  in  an 
infinitesimal  degree,  but  still  does  tend)  to  excite 
the  lower,  and  to  neutralize  the  spiritual  elements 
in  our  nature,  and  that,  in  myriads  who  stop  far 
short  of  being  drunkards,  it  blunts  the  moral  sensi- 
bilities, and  enslaves  the  enervated  will.  And  al- 
though millions  never  succumb  to  these  influences, 
yet  millions  also  do.  Do  you  suppose  that  there 
was  ever  a drunkard  since  the  world  began  who 
dreamed,  when  he  first  began  to  quaff 

The  foaming  vintage  of  Champagne 
In  silver  goblets  tossed,” 

or  to  do  any  of  the  other  fine  things  which  our 
Bacchanalian  sons  so  fatally  belaud,  that  he,  too. 


50 


Total  Abstinence 


would  fall  into  the  shame  and  misery  of  the  drunk- 
ard? From  the  day  when  Noah  planted  a vineyard 
and  ate  of  the  fruit  thereof — nay,  it  may  be  even 
from  the  days  of  Eden  if,  as  the  Rabbis  say,  the 
vine  was  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil — from  the  days  when  the  two  sons  of  Aaron 
perished  at  the  altar  in  their  intoxication  ; number- 
less of  the  miserable  have  experienced  the  fatal 
physical  fact  that  as  long  as  a drop  of  alcohol  re- 
mains in  the  system,  it  creates  a desire  for  more; 
the  fatal  moral  fact  that  evil  habit  first  allures,  then 
'masters,  finally  maddens  and  enslaves.  At  the 
entrance  of  one  of  our  college  chapels,  lies  a name- 
less grave ; that  grave  covers  the  mortal  remains 
of  one  of  its  most  promising  fellows — ruined 
through  drink.  I received,  not  long  ago,  a letter 
from  an  old  schoolfellow,  a clergyman,  who  after 
long  labors  was  in  want  of  clothes  and  almost  of  food. 
I inquired  the  cause;  it  was  drink.  A few  weeks 
ago  a wretched  clergyman  came  to  me  in  deplora- 
ble misery,  who  had  dragged  down  his  family  with 
him  into  ruin.  What  had  ruined  him  ? Drink ! When 
I was  at  Cambridge,  one  of  the  most  promising 
scholars  was  a youth  who,  years  ago,  died  in  a 
London  hospital  penniless,  of  delirium  tremens, 
through  drink.  When  I was  at  King's  College,  I 
used  to  sit  next  to  a handsome  youth,  who  grew 
up  to  be  a brilliant  writer;  he  died  in  the  prime  of 
life,  a victim  of  drink.  I once  knew  an  eloquent 
philanthropist  who  was  a very  miserable  man. 
The  world  never  knew  the  curse  which  was  on 
him;  but  his  friends  knew  that  it  was  drink.  And 
why  is  it  that  these  tragedies  are  daily  happening? 


For  the  Sake  of  Ourselves  a7id  Others,  51 

It  is  through  the  fatal  fascination,  the  seductive 
sorcery  of  drink,  against  which  Scripture  so  often 
warns.  It  is  because  drink  is  one  of  the  surest  of 
the  devil’s  ways  to  man,  and  of  man’s  ways  to  the 
devil”  It  is  because  the  old  Greek  imagination 
hit  upon  a frightful  truth,  when  it  surrounded  the 
car  of  Bacchus  with  half-human  satyrs  and  raving 
meanads.  ‘‘  I must  take  care,”  wrote  a great  and 
good  man  the  other  day,  ^‘for  I find  myself  get- 
ting an  ugly  craving  for  alcohol ; ” and  what  is  such 
a remark  but  an  unconscious  comment  on  Milton’s 
noble  lines : 

“ Bacchus,  that  first  from  out  the  purple  grape 
Crushed  the  sweet  poison  of  misused  wine. 

After  the  Tuscan  mariners  transformed 
Skirting  the  Tyrrhene  shore  as  the  wind  listed 
On  Circe's  island  fell.  Who  knows  not  Circe, 

The  daughter  of  the  sun,  whose  charmed  cup 
Whoever  tasted  lost  his  upright  shape. 

And  downward  fell  into  a grovelling  swine  ? " 

Which  things  are  simply  this  allegory,  that  he  who 
loves  wine  is  driven  as  the  wind  lists,  into  a realm 
of  sorcery,  and  that  this  sorcery  culminates  in  utter 
degradation.  But  you,  it  may  be,  are  quite  sure 
that  you  will  never  fall  on  Circe’s  island,  or  un- 
mould  reason’s  mintage.  But  why  are  you  so 
sure?  Is  your  nature  so  much  stronger  and  nobler 
than  that  of  Burns’,  or  than  that  of  Hartley  Cole- 
ridge, or  than  that  of  Charles  Lamb,  with  his  sad, 
cry,  ‘‘The  waters  have  gone  over  me,  but  out  of 
the  depths,  could  I be  heard,  I would  cry  out  to  all 
those  who  have  but  set  a foot  in  the  perilous 
flood?”  Or  why  are  you  safer  than  these  600,000 


52 


Total  Abstinence 


drunkards  in  these  unhappy  islands,  many  of  them 
men  of  keen  intellect,  many  of  them  men  of  noble 
instincts,  many  of  them  men  of  most  amiable  char- 
acter? How  did  these  men  become  drunkards? 
Do  you  think  that  they  were  born  drunkards?  Do 
you  think  that  they  became  drunkards  the  moment 
they  tasted  alcohol?  Why,  gentlemen,  you  know 
that  there  is  only  one  way  by  which  any  man  ever 
became  a drunkard,  and  that  is  by  growing  fond  of 
alcohol,  at  first  in  moderate  drinking — either  by  the 
glass  or  by  the  dram — day  by  day  a little  increased 
— year  by  year  a little  multiplied — by  the  solitary 
becoming  the  frequent,  and  the  frequent  the  habit- 
ual, and  the  habitual  the  all-but-inevitable  trans- 
gression ; till  at  last,  some  fine  morning,  as  they 
awoke,  perhaps  in  the  shame  of  some  inevitable 
fall,  it  came  upon  them  with  a flash  that  they  are 
drunkards.  This  perhaps  is  the  commonest  method 
Cf  ruin. 

We  are  not  worse  at  once  : the  course  of  evil 
Begins  so  slowly  and  from  such  slight  source, 

An  infant’s  hand  might  stem  the  breach  with  clay : 

But  let  the  stream  grow  wider,  and  philosophy. 

Aye  and  religion  too,  may  strive  in  vain 
To  stem  the  headlong  current.” 

But  it  is  not  always  in  this  slow  and  gradual 
manner  that  men  have  become  drunkards.  Some- 
times they  have  been  moderate  for  years,  and  then 
at  last — when  they  thought  themselves  perfectly 
secure — the  temptation  has  come  upon  them,  “ter- 
rible and  with  a tiger's  leaps" — in  the  delight  of 
some  boon  companionship — in  the  exhilaration  of 
some  sudden  good  fortune,  in  the  agony  of  some 


For  the  Sake  of  Ourselves  and  Others,  53 

unexpected  bereavement.  Gentlemen,  if  every  one 
of  you  think  yourselves  so  absolutel}^  and  perma- 
nently safe  from  a temptation  to  which  so  many 
millions  have  succumbed  ; or  if  you  think  that, 
being  absolutely  safe  yourself,  no  single  person 
toward  whom  you  have  duties  and  whom  you 
\ove,  no  wife,  or  child,  and  friend,  or  servant,  or 
parishioner — can  by  any  possibility  be  ever  tempted 
by  your  example,  all  that  I can  say  is  that,  while  I 
can  not  share  your  confidence,  I most  earnestly 
trust  that  no  bitter  irremediable  experience  may 
ever  give  you  cause  to  repent  of  it  in  dust  and 
ashes. 

But  now,  gentlemen,  I will  pass  entirely  from  the 
personal  to  the  social  aspect  of  the  question.  It 
has  been  said  that  if  you  are  fond  of  wine  you 
ought  to  abstain  for  your  own  sake,  and  if  you 
are  not  fond  of  wine,  you  ought  to  abstain  for 
the  sake  of  others.  That  may  be  only  an  epi- 
gram ; but  3^et  I do  sa}",  gentlemen,  that  if  you 
could  disprove  all  that  I have  as  3"et  said  to  you, 
I should  still  try  to  be  a total  abstainer.  It  is 
as  I have  said  my  conviction,  deepened  by  an 
ever-increasing  mass  of  evidence,  that  .the  tendency 
of  alcohol  is  bad  for  every  one  morall}^  intellectu- 
ally, and  spiritually,  and  that  no  one  can  tell  whom 
his  example  may  not  injuriously  affect: — but  even 
were  it  otherwise,  I should  still  think  it  right  to 
abstain.  For  that  alcohol  is  a necessity,  except  in 
the  ver}"  rarest  cases,  you  can  not  prove.  And  there- 
fore I should  still  be  a total  abstainer  for  the  sake  of 
others.  For  even  the  very  idiot  must  admit  that 
one  evil  at  least  comes  from  drink — one  evil  colos- 


54 


Total  Abstinence 


sal  and  ruin  )i:s — one  evil  immediately  and  direct 
ly,  and  therefore  in  some  cases  necessarily; — and 
that  is  drunkenness — the  national  drunkenness  ot 
this  country.  It  makes  ni}^  cheeks  blush  for  shame, 
it  makes  my  heart  beat  fast  with  indignation,  when 
I think  that  this  precious,  this  glorious,  this  immor- 
tal England  of  ours,  is  itself  one  of  the  most 
drunken  nations,  and  perhaps  the  greatest  cause  of 
drunkenness  in  other  nations,  of  all  under  God’s 
sun.  Gentlemen,  drunkenness,  I grieve  to  say — 
for  it  is  a masterstroke  of  the  powers  of  evil — is 
too  often  treated  as  laughable.  Continually  it  is 
made  a subject  of  jest  in  our  comic  newspapers, 
and  no  one  can  live  in  London  without  noticing 
that  it  is  the  favorite  jocosity  of  those  wretched 
comic  songs,  those  deplorably  abysmal  degrada- 
tions of  all  verse  and  all  music,  which  flow  like  a 
stream  of  vitriol  from  detestable  music  halls  over 
the  morals  of  the  boys  and  girls,  whom,  in  our 
schools  and  classes,  we  have  striven  to  win  to  God. 
Well,  gentlemen,  I can  not  laugh  at  these  jests;  I 
can  but  look  with  disgust  and  abhorrence  on  these 
songs.  Gentlemen,  have  you  ever  seen — if  not  may 
you  never  see  !— a young  man  suffering  from  delir- 
ium tremens?  From  attempting  to  describe  its 
horrors  I shrink  appalled  ; but  you  are  probably  all 
aware  that  one  of  the  features  of  delirium  tremens 
is  all  kinds  of  illusions  and  phantoms.  A friend  of 
mine  told  me  the  other  day,  that,  finding  himself  in 
London,  he  turned  into  a tavern  tor  some  lunch. 
As  he  sat  there  a dog  suddenly  ran  across  the 
room,  and  my  friend  started.  Oh,  don’t  be  afraid, 
sir,’’  said  the  waiter,  coming  up  to  him,  was  a 


For  the  Sake  of  Ourselves  cmd  Others,  55 


dog,  it  was  a real  dog,  I assure  you.”  At  first  he 
could  not  understand  what  the  man  meant;  but 
then  it  flashed  on  him  with  a thrill  of  horror,  that 
this  man  in  his  own  person,  and  in  the  person  of  his 
customers,  was  familiar  with  the  ghastly  illusions 
of  that  most  terrible  of  all  diseases,  which  is  God’s 
Nemesis  upon  excess.  Well,  gentlemen,  this  being 
but  one  of  the  horrors  of  that  drunkenness,  which 
has  its  direct  and  sole  origin  in  drink — are  you  a 
Christian — are  you  a man — can  you  have  a heart 
in  your  breast  which  selfishness  has  not  quite  eaten 
away — if  you  can,  hear  without  shame  and  sorrow 
that,  to  say  nothing  of  the  grocers’  licenses,  there\ 
are  98,955  public  houses  in  England,  and  that  there 
is  scarcely  one  of  these  which  is  not  to  some  a 
direct  inevitable  source  of  terrible  temptation  • 
that  there  are  38,845  beenshops  in  England,  of  which 
there  is  scarcely  one  which  is  not  a direct  source 
of  temptation  in  the  neighborhood  ; that  in  the 
year  1875  there  were  in  England  alone  203,989  ar- 
rests for  drunkenness,  and  122,913  arrests  for  as- 
saults, many  of  these  of  the  loathiest  and  most 
diabolically  brutal  character,  connected  with 
drunkenness;  making  the  ghastly  total  of  326,902 
offenses  on  the  score  of  this  sin  alone — which  yet 
does  not  represent  one-tenth  part  of  the  shame,  the 
ruin,  the  misery,  the  loss,  the  burden,  which  arey 
directly  due  to  this  awful  sin  ? The  drunkard,  as  T 
have  said,  is  often  in  his  sober  moments  a high- 
minded  and  honorable  man,  and  no  amount  of  phys- 
ical torture  can  equal  the  anguish  of  moral  degra- 
dation, in  which  he  knows  what  he  is,  and  loathes 
what  he  is,  and  yet  is  what  he  is  by  a deadly  spelJ 


56 


Total  Abstinence 


which  he  can  not  break.  Drunkards  have  been 
known  to  describe  the  horror  and  intensity  of  this 
spell,  by  saying  that  if  a glass  of  brandy  were  set 
before  them,  and  between  them  and  it  yawned  the 
very  abyss  of  hell,  they  still  must  stretch  forth  their 
hands  and  take  it.  And  the  worst  of  all  is  the 
r knowledge  that  these  unhappy  sinners  and  victims 
transmit  to  their  children  an  hereditary  craving,  of 
which  those  unacquainted  with  it  can  not  conceive 
the  terrible  intensity.  Imagine,  gentlemen,  the  case 
• — alas  ! in  the  lower  classes  the  very  common  case  ! 
! ■ — of  the  poor  unhappy  youth,  born  with  this  awful 

tendency,  conscious  of  it,  afraid  of  it,  yet  not  suffi- 
ciently braced  in  moral  self-discipline  to  prevent  it 
from  becoming  first  an  allurement,  then  a mastery, 
then  the  tyranny  of  a remorseless  demon.  Imagine 
a man — and  such  cases  are — a man  so  unhappily 
constituted  by  the  sins  of  his  fathers,  that,  for  long, 
long  years,  from  boyhood  to  the  ver}’  verge  of  old 
age,  the  soul  within  him  has  to  stand  and  watch 
like  an  unsleeping  sentinel,’'  lest  at  any  moment  the 
burning  congenital  appetite  for  strong  drink  should 
clutch  him  with  hands  of  fire,  and  drag  him  down 
to  the  unspeakable  horror  of  the  drunkard’s  grave  ! 

Well,  gentlemen,  it  is  on  behalf  of  these  drunk- 
ards that  I appeal  to  you ; and  not  for  their  sakes 
only,  but  for  the  sakes  of  their  little  sons  and  their 
little  daughters,  and  for  the  sake  of  the  myriads  of 
those  white  young  souls,  which  are  being  at  this 
moment  trained  in  our  national  schools,  and  of 
which  nearly  all  will  have  to  wrestle  with  this  as 
one  of  their  sorest  temptations,  and  of  which  many 
a thousand,  if  not  saved  and  shielded,  will  most  in- 


For  the  Sake  of  Ourselves  and  Others.  $7 

evitably  fall.  Remember,  gentlemen,  I entreat  you, 
that  the  drunkards  of  to-day  are  not  the  drunkards 
of  to-morrow ; that  this  ignoble  and  inglorious 
\army  of  drunkards,  as  its  ranks  are  thinned  by 
\Jeath,  is  being  daily  recruited  by  those  who  as  yet 
are  not  drunkards,  but  who  only  drink.  For  my- 
self, supposing  that  considerations  like  these  had 
not  already  induced  me  to  take  the  pledge,  I ven- 
ture to  say  that  if  I were  in  this  hall  hearing  these 
facts,  and  if  I knew  that,  in  this  hall,  there  were 
but  one  3^outh  or  man  who  would  fall  hereafter  into 
this  horrible  abyss,  then  I should  feel  it  would  be 
well  worth  the  sacrifice  of  every  one  of  us  taking 
the  pledge,  if  by  so  doing  we  could  but  save  that 
one  ; it  might  be  a personal  blessing  to  every  one 
of  us,  but  even  if  not,  yet  how  small  would  be  our 
loss,  how  great  his  gain  ! and  I should  think  that 
we  were  but  acting  in  the  spirit  of  that  great  apos- 
tle who  said  that  he  would  neither  eat  meat,  nor 
drink  wine,  nor  anything  whereby  his  brother  was 
made  to  offend.  I have  not  said,  I never  shall  say, 
a word  against  the  publicans;  I have  not  said,  I 
never  shall  say,  that  it  is. the  duty  of  any  man,  not 
beipg  a drunkard,  to  take  the  pledge  ; but  I do  say 
that  this  is  a plain  fact,  namely,  that  drunkenness 
comes  of  moderate  drinking,  and  that  if,  as  a na- 
tion, we  would  make  the  vow  of  abstinence  all  but 
universal  among  us,  then  drunkenness  at  any  rate, 
with  all  its  fearful  consequences,  would  be  erased 
from  its  horrible  prominence  in  the  list  of  our  na- 
tional sins,  I have  but  touched,  you  will  observe, 
on  the  mere  surface  of  the  subject  I could  show 
you,  if  time  allowed — show  you  by  proofs  the  most 


58 


Total  Abstinence 


startling,  the  most  irrefragable— that  the  liquor 
traffic  stands  in  the  very  forefront  of  responsibility 
for  the  alarming  amount  of  lunacy,  of  pauperism, 
of  crime,  and  that  without  this  liquor  traffic  England 
would  be  unspeakably  different  from  what  now  it  is 
— unspeakably  more  prosperous  at  home — unspeak- 
ably more  honored  abroad— than  it  ever  has  been, 
or  ever  can  be,  while  the  liquor  traffic  maintains  its 
present  immense  and  truly  deplorable  ascendency. 
To  me  it  seems,  gentlemen,  that  there  is  only  one 
remedy  which  can  indefinitely  prolong  the  national 
glory  of  England  ; there  is  but  one  resource  which 
can  counteract  the  dangers  which  threaten  us  from 
the  pressure  of  life,  the  depression  of  trade,  the 
growth  of  a deeply-seated  discontent ; that  there 
is  but  one  way  to  diminish  the  ghastly  total  of 
crime,  to  close  two-thirds  of  our  prisons,  two- 
thirds  of  our  asylums,  two-thirds  of  our  work- 
houses  ; and  that  remedy,  that  resource,  that  way 
is,  that  instead  of  continuing  to  be  a drunken,  we 
should  become  a sober  and  temperate  nation  ; and 
in  the  present  distress,  amid  the  present  perils, 
with  the  present  repeated  refusals  of  the  Legisla- 
ture to  interfere  with  the  scandalous  multiplication 
of  temptations,  there  is  but  one  way  by  which  we 
can  ever  become  a sober  and  temperate  nation,  and 
that  is  by  the  immense,  the  voluntary,  the  all  but 
universal  spread  of  total  abstinence.  The  day  may 
return — God  grant  it,  and  it  is  very  far  off  as  yet 
■ — when  the  present  peril  and  the  present  distress 
are  over,  and  England,  shamed  into  decency  and 
startled  into  repentance,  may  indulge,  if  it  be  an 
indulgence,  and  if  she  must  indulge  in  the  fer- 


For  the  Sake  of  Ourselves  and  Others.  59 

mcnted  juice  of  the  grape,  without  one  word  of 
warning;  but  that  day  is  not  yet,  and,  meanwhile, 
do  not  be  deceived  into  easy  self-satisfaction,  by  a 
mere  talking  about  rose-water  remedies  which  be- 
come practically  an  excuse  for  simply  doing  no- 
thing. People  solemnly  tell  us  that  we  must  not 
hght  drunkenness,  but  must  give  the  poor  higher 
amusements,  better  houses,  more  education,  and  so 
make  them  sober.  Gentlemen,  I have  seen  some- 
thing of  the  poor,  and  I tell  you  emphatically  that 
n our  present  state  of  things,  these  remedies  will 
not  diminish  drunkenness.  No  one  can  desire  more 
ardently  than  I do,  that  all  this  should  be  done;  no 
one  feels  more  indignantly  than  I do  the  selfish 
apathy  of  rich  men,  who  draw  rents  from  filthy 
houses  where  the  poor  are  huddled  together  like 
swine ; no  one  can  believe  more  entirely  than  I do 
that  in  general,  more  education  means  less  vice. 
But  I say,  first  diminish  drunkenness  and  then  try 
these  remedies,  or  you  will  be  utterly  defeated  : 

What,  have  ye  let  the  fond  enchanter  'scape 
Oh,  ye  mistook  ! ye  should  have  snatch’d  his  wand 
And  bound  him  fast.  Without  his  rod  reversed, 

And  backward  mutters  of  dissevering  power, 

We  can  not  free  the  lady,  who  sits  here 
In  stony  fetters  fixed  and  motionless  ! ” 

And  this,  gentlemen, — total  abstinence — this  is  the 
snatched  wand,  the  rod  reversed,  the  backward 
mutters  of  dissevering  power.  Without  this,  all 
the  boons  you  give  to  the  poorer  class  will  be 
turned  gradually  into  banes  ; with  it  the  boons  will 
come,  and  come  far  more  effectually  of  themselves. 
As  drunkenness  has  already  turned  into  a bane  the 


6o 


Total  Abstinence 


boon  of  better  wages  and  more  frequent  holidays, 
BO  it  would  soon  turn  your  better  houses  into 
scenes  of  degradation,  and  fill  your  places  of  amuse- 
ment with  reeling  sots.  Make  the  working-classes 
sober,  as  our  Legislature,  and  our  upper  classes  if 
they  were  utterly  in  earnest  might  do;  induce 
them  to  give  up  the  horrible  waste  of  drink  and 
drunkenness;  and  you  may  depend  upon  it  that 
the  other  boons  would  come  spontaneously — that 
the  working-classes  would  very  soon  provide  the 
better  houses,  and  higher  amusements,  and  more 
education  for  themselves.  And  this  is  emphatically 
the  work,  emphatically  the  reform  which  this  age 
has  to  achieve  ; and,  for  those  at  any  rate  who  work 
among  the  poor,  total  abstinence  is  the  only  way  to 
do  it.  If  the  clergyman  takes  his  glass  of  sherry, 
on  plea  of  fatigue  or  exhaustion,  you  may  depend 
upon  it  that  the  working-man  will  go  on  the  same 
pretext  to  the  publican  for  his  glass  of  gin  ; and  if 
he  reads  his  Shakespeare,  he  will  say  to  the  clergy- 
man, who  wants  to  win  him  from  drukenness: 

“ But,  good  my  brother, 

Do  not  as  some  ungracious  pastors  do, 

Point  me  the  steep  and  stormy  path  to  heaven ; 

While,  like  a puffed  and  reckless  libertine. 

Himself  the  primrose  path  of  dalliance  treads. 

And  recks  not  his  own  rede/' 

Gentlemen,  our  fathers  had  to  go  to  the  stake  for 
freedom  of  conscience,. and  to  shed  their  blood  for 
civil  liberty,  and  to  bear  obloquy  in  founding  mis- 
" sions,  and  reforming  prisons,  and  furthering  educa- 
tion, and  purging  England  from  the  infamies  of  the 
slave  trade.  What  we  have  to  do,  what  this  age 


For  the  Sake  of  Ourselves  and  Others,  6 1 

has  to  do,  what  ever}^  brave  and  true  and  good 
man  in  this  generation  has  to  do,  is  to  save 
England  from  the  stain  and  shame,  from  the 
curse  and  ruin  of  drunkenness,  a curse  far 
deadlier  than  that  of  neglected  prisons,  far 
deadlier  than  that  of  injured  slaves.  Will  you 
do  it.^  or  will  you  make  the  great  refusal?  If  you 
have  to  bear  a little  blatant  ridicule  in  doing  it,  so 
much  the  better.  If  the  people  who  extol  the 
cheap  and  easy  virtues  of  imbibing  beer  and  wine, 
pity  you  from  the  heights  of  their  serene  supe- 
riority— tell  them  that  this  sort  of  virtue,  which  con- 
sists in  doing  what  we  like,  because  we  like  it,  is 
one  which  can^never  mount  to  the  height  of  your 
disdain.  Gcnttemen,'  no  reform  worth  having  was 
ever  carried  except  in  the  teeth  of  clenched  antag- 
onists ; and  most  reformers,  though  we  build  statues 
to  them  now,  have  had  to 

“ Stand  pilloried  on  infamy's  high  stage, 

And  bear  the  pelting  scorn  of  half  an  age. 

And  those  who  carry,  or  who  help  to  carry,  this  re- 
form— they  too,  will  live  in  the  grateful  recollection 
of  posterity.  The  name  of  Sir  Wilfrid  Lawson 
will  be  honored,  when  those  of  half  our  little  poli- 
ticians sleep  in  the  dust  of  Hansard.  The  names  of 
Canon  Ellison  and  Canon  Hopkins  will  be  remem- 
bered when  half  the  fuglemen  of  our  petty  schisms 
are  consigned  to  fortunate  oblivion.  The  name  of 
Dr.  Richardson  will  be  honored  when  the  place  of 
a hundred  fashionable  physicians  knows  them 
no  more.  Not  for  one  moment  do  I— I,  a late  con- 
vert, whose  attention  was  lately  aroused  to  this 


62 


Total  Abstinence 


question  by  a short  experience  of  work  among  the 
London  poor — presume  to  pluck  the  most  withered 
leaf  of  that  civic  garland  which  ob  cives  servatos 
these  gentlemen  have  so  richly  deserved ; but  will 
not  some  of  you,  who  are  young,  array  yourselves 
in  this  great  cause — continue  this  great  battle — 
take  the  places  of  us  who  already think  with  a 
diminished  fire,  and  speak  with  a diminished 
force?” 

‘‘  Exoriare  aliquis  nostris  ex  ossibus  ultor." 

It  may  be  the  fate  of  some  of  you  to  die  before 
you  have  ever  really,  or  in  any  high  sense  lived; 
some  of  you  may  become  cynics  in  thought,  and 
pessimists  in  morals,  and  spend  pernicious  lives  in 
trying — though  you  might  as  well  try  to  throw 
dust  at  heaven  and  stain  it — in  trying  to  ridicule 
the  faith  and  the  aims  of  the  saints  of  God ; some 
of  you  may  sell  your  souls  for  vulgar  successes, 
and  pitch  your  tents  on  the  dead  levels  of  selfish 
respectability,  or  the  sluggish  flats  of  base  content ; 
but,  oh,  will  none  of  you,  sweeping  aside  the 
wretched  sophisms  which  infest  this  question,  see 
that  sacrifice,  born  not  for  self,  but  for  others,  is  al- 
ways sacred  ; and  will  you  not,  for  the  sake  of  the  so- 
lidarity of  man,  give  yourselves  to  that  high  task 
of  social  amelioration  of  which  this  is  the  most 
pressing  and  the  most  important  element?  ''HUT 
says  the  Imitatio  Christi,  " illi  sunt  vere  fideles  tui 
qui  totas  vitas  suas  ad  eniendationem  disponuntT  and 
surely  the  ernendatio  of  God's  noblest  nation  is  a 
work  even  more  sacred  than  the  ernendatio  of  our- 
selves. And  at  present  there  is  no  other  way  so 


For  the  Sake  of  Ourselves  and  Others  63 

brief,  so  essential,  so  emphatic,  as  to  show  what 
you  think  by  example  as  well  as  by  precept,  and 
by  giving  up  what  is  at  the  very  best  an  infinitesi- 
mal advantage  to  take  your  part  against  an  infinite 
calamity.  Your  doing  so  may  cause  a laugh;  it 
may  bring  on  you  a sneer  at  a dinner-party ; but, 
if  you  be  still  young,  it  may  save  you,  personally, 
from  a degrading  peril ; and  it  will  pledge  you  per- 
sonally to  a glorious  cause.  Many  will  tell  you 
that  the  plan  is  Quixotic,  Utopian,  hopeless.  These, 
gentlemen,  are  missiles  of  commonplace  launched 
from  the  catapults  of  selfishness,  and  I have  gener- 
ally observed  that  the  cause  at  which  they  are 
leveled  is  generally  a good  cause,  and  almost  al- 
ways a cause  which  at  last  has  won.  But,  at  any 
rate,  this  I do  say  from  the  very  deepest  convic- 
tion, that  if  this  be  a hopeless  cause,  then  the  cause 
of  England  is  hopeless;  and  if  this  be  a losing  bat- 
tle, then  the  battle  of  England  too  is  lost.  But  I 
prophesy  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  a cause  which 
will  triumph,  and  a battle  which  shall  be  won. 
Give  us  the  impetuosity  of  your  youth ; give  us 
the  glow  of  your  enthusiasm ; give  us  the  fresh- 
ness of  your  lives.  Remember  that  the  heroes  and 
the  demigods  were  they  who  rid  the  earth  of  mon- 
sters ; think  of  the  monsters  against  which  you 
have  to  fight;  the  miseries  from  which  you  have 
to  deliver;  the  multitudes  which  you  have  to  con- 
vince; the  banded  interests  which  you  must  help 
to  overthrow.  There,  in  your  sight,  lies  the  dark 
tower  of  vice  and  prejudice  which  you  have  to 
storm,  ‘‘  the  round  squat  turret  blind  as  the  fooFs 
heart.'*  God  give  some  of  you  grace  to  help  in 


64 


Total  Abstinence. 


the  storm  of  it,  were  it  ten  times  as  impregnable  as 
it  is!  Many  have  died  in  the  apparently  forlorn 
hope  of  its  assault;  but  I will  trust  that  there  may 
even  now  be  sitting,  listening,  among  you,  one  who 
will  yet  live  to  do  it,  and  will,  in  a far  less  danger- 
ous cause,  make  his  vow  in  the  spirit  of  the  young 
knight  in  the  great  poem,  surrounded  by  the  phan- 
toms of  the  lost  adventurers,  his  peers: 

There  they  stood,  ranged  along  the  hill-side — set, 

To  see  the  last  of  me — a living  flame 
For  one  more  picture.  In  a sheet  of  flame 
I saw  them,  and  I knew  them  all ; and  yet 
Dauntless  the  slughorn  to  my  lips  I set. 

And  blew  ' Childe  Roland  to  the  dark  tower  came.' 


perance  Literature. 

Paper  Edition  of  Standard  Works. 

|ow  Prices^  to  Suit  the  Timefs. 


The  National  Temperance  Society  have  recently  issued  a number 
"feir  standard  works,  in  paper  covers,  for  general  circulation  among 
people,  at  such  low  prices  as  should  secure  the  distribution  of  millions 
Copies.  Having  no  funds  for  gratuitous  circulation,  and  receiving  no 
ley  whatever  from  Churches,  or  Temperance  Organizations,  we  appeal 
fel  Societies,  Churches,  and  individuals,  to  take  measures  to  procure  a 
fntity  of  these  pamphlets  and  books,  which  are  furnished  at  cost,  and 
that  they  have  a wide  circulation.  The  follo\Ying  is  a list  of  those 
feady  published  : 


Pr  Wasted  Resources.  By  Dr.  Wm.  Hargreaves.  12mo,  202  pages.  The  Mis- 
j sine  Link  in  the  Temperance  Reform,  giving  the  most  valuable  statistics  ever  pub- 
lished. Price,  in  cloth,  1 25;  paper  edition 

■^e  Prohibitionist’s  Text  Book.  12mo,  312  pages.  Cloth,  1 00;  paper 

^ This  volume  contains  the  most  valuable  arguments,  statistics, testimonies  and  appeals, 
,,ft)wing  the  iniquity  of  the  license  system,  and  the  right  and  duty  of  prohibition. 

fev.  Dr,  Willoughby  and  his  Wine.  12mo,  458  pages.  By  Mrs.  Mary 
Spring  Walker.  Presents  the  entire  wine  argument  in  a pleasing  and  thrilling  story. 
The  cheapest  Temperance  Book  ever  published.  Cloth,  1 50 ; paper  edition 


r^oody’s  Talks  on  Temperance.  12mo,  250  pages.  Edited  by  Rev.  J.  B.  Dunn. 
With  anecdotes,  illustrations,  and  incidents  of  Gospel  Temperance  Work. 

Cloth,  1 00 ; paper  edition 

.'jgfae  Text  Book  of  Temperance.  By  Dr.  F.  R.  Lees,  F.S.A.  12mo,  312  pages 
Historical,  Biblical,  Physiological,  Statistical.  Political,  and  Moral.  It  gives  a thor 
ough  discussion  of  the  entire  question.  Cloth,  1 25;  paper  edition 


On 


Alcohol.  By  Dr.  B.  W.  Richardson,  E.R.S.,  of  London.  12mo,  190  pages.  Six 
“ Cantor  Lectures,”  showing  the  nature  and  Effect,  of  Alcohol  on  the  Body  and  Mind 
Cloth,  1 00;  paper  editio  n 


Bacchus  Dethroned,  A Prize  Essay.  Cloth,  1 00;  paper  edition 

^.Icohol  as  a Rood  and  Medicine.  By  Ezra  M.  Hunt,  M.D.  12mo,  137  pages 
Cloth,  60c. ; paper  edition - 

■V-' 

% , -^udings  and  Recitations.  12mo,  96  pages.  Cloth,  60c. ; paper 

By  Miss  L.  Pennoy.  A collection  of  new  and  first-class  articles  and  selec- 
both  prose  and  verse,  embracing  argument  and  appeal,  pathos  and  humor,  by  the 
^most  Temperance  advocates.  Suitable  for  Declamation,  Recitation,  Public  and  Parlor 


^dings. 

..*ible  Wines ; or,  r.^aws  of  Fermentation.  12mo,  139  pages,  By  Rev. 
Wm.  Patton,  D.D.  Cloth,  60c. ; paper 

The  Action  of  Alcohol  on  the  Body  and  on  the  Mind.  By  B.  w. 

Richardson,  M.D.,  of  England.  12mo,  60  pages.  Paper  edition 

Sent  by  mail,  post  paid,  on  receipt  of  jjricco 

Address  J.  N.  STEARNS,  Publishing  Agent, 

58  lieade  Street^  New  York. 


50 

50 


50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

25 

25 

3i 

20 


Talks 


on 


BY 


Rev.  Canon  Fabrar,  D.D.,  F.R.S. 

12ino,  158  pages;  cloth,  60  cents;  paper  cover,  25  cent?. 


The  National  Temperance  Society  has  recently  publj^ 
the  Ten  Sermons  and  Talks  by  this  eminent  divine.  They  r 
filled  with  sound  convincing  arguments  against  the  lawfuhn^ 
morality,  and  necessity  of  the  Liquor  Traffic,  as  well  as  stirr 
appeals  to  all  Christian  men  and  women,  to  take  a firm,  decid 
outspoken  stand  •in  favor  of  Total  Abstinence  from  all  intoxi 
ting  liquors. 

He  gives  the  trumpet  no  uncertain  sound,  when  he  procla: 
war  against  Alchohol,  but  urges  every  motive,  and  brings  to  b 
every  incentive,  to  enlist  recruits  from  every  class. 

OVER  40,000  COPIES 

have  already  been  sold  in  England,  and  we  trust  that,  with 
very  low  price  at  which  they  are  sold,  they  will  secure  a wide|r 
culation  in  every  community.  The  following  is  the  Table  of  ^ 

OOIVTEIVTJ^: 

1.  Between  tlie  Living  and  the  Dead. 

2.  Beasons  for  Being  an  Abstainer. 

3.  Total  Abstinence  for  the  Sake  of  Ourselves  and  others^ 

4.  The  Vow  of  the  Nazarite. 

5.  The  Vow  of  the  Bechabites. 

6.  The  Serpent  and  the  Tiger. 

7.  Our  Duty  as  a Nation. 

8.  Abstinence  from  Evil. 

9.  Address  to  Teachers. 

10.  Experience  of  a Total  Abstainer. 

It  will  be  sent  by  mail  on  receipt  of  price. 

Address  J.  N.  STEARNS,  Publishing  Agent, 

58  Reade  Street,  New  Yor^x 


